Beautiful pictures of mountains and forests, clear skies, flying birds, wild animals, silly faces — you can find them all in one place. 46 ? On a postcard! Have people always sent postcards? No! Before postcards, people 47 sealed (密封的) letters.

The 48 for the first decorated (装饰的) postcard came to John P. Charlton in 1861. He thought a simple card 49 a border would be a great way to send a note. Then in the late 1800s, postcards which had pictures on them 50 . By law, people had to write their note on the front—on the picture! The back was 51 for the address. Several years later, England allowed a divided-back (背面隔开的) postcard. Then people could write their 52 on the back left side. And they put the address 53 . During the early 1900s, the golden age of postcards, people around the world were more and more 54 picture postcards. In 1908, Americans alone mailed over 677 million postcards.

Today, postcards are the 55 most popular collection in the world after stamps and coins. You can always see or get a lot of newly-designed postcards, especially on New Year's Day.

46. A. How　　 B. When　　　 C. Why　　　 D. Where

47. A. liked　　　 B. hated　　　 C. found　　　 D. lost

48. A. advice　　 B. picture　　　 C. idea　　　 D. card

49. A. above　　 B. with　　　　 C. under　　 D. for

50. A. happened　 B. changed　　　 C. ended 　　D. appeared

51. A. even　　　 B. only　　　　 C. still　　　 D. ever

52. A. note　　　 B. word　　　　 C. address　　 D. letter

53. A. on the front B. on the back　 C. on the left　 D. on the right

54. A. surprised at B. interested in　 C. expected by D. worried about

55. A. first　　　 B. second　　　 C. third　　　 D. fourth

Do you plan to go to Hong Kong Disneyland with your family this summer? If your dad smokes, you may have to ask him to be careful. From January 1^st, Hong Kong banned（禁止）smoking in most public places.　　
These places include restaurants, workplaces, schools and so on. Even smoking in some outdoor places is not allowed, for example, beaches, sports ground, museums and most areas of public parks.　　
　Hong Kong　 hopes the ban can stop passive smoking. What is passive smoking? When people smoke in a restaurant or on a bus, others have to smoke too. They don’t want to smoke but they have no choice. This is passive smoking. It is bad for people’s health.　　
And it’ll be better if more people in 　Hong Kong　 give up smoking because of the ban. Jack Lee, a 26-year-old student says, “The ban is really good. I don’t like people smoking next to me. It’s so smoky and smelly.”　　
If someone breaks the ban, he will be fined HK$5,000.　　
　Hong Kong　 is not the first Asian city to have a smoking ban. On January 1, 2006, 　　Singapore　　 banned smoking in most public places.　　
【小题1】Smoking is not allowed             in 　Hong Kong　.　　
A. in indoor places     B. in most public places       C. at home 　　
【小题2】Which outdoor place is not mentioned in the passage?　　
A. The park        B. The beach             C. The airport　　
【小题3】 What’s the purpose of the smoking ban in 　Hong Kong　?　　
A. To stop passive smoking.　　
B. To stop the sale of cigarettes.　　
C. To stop people from smoking.　　
【小题4】The example in Paragraph 4 shows (证明)that           .　　
A. Jack Lee likes smoking very much    B. people in 　Hong Kong　 support the ban　　
C. Jack Lee is used to smoking 　　
【小题5】What’s the Chinese meaning of the underlined word “fined”?　　
A. 罚款  B. 给予 C. 奖励　

Basketball is still a young game. It's over a hundred years old. In the winter of 1891, a certain college was having some trouble with its boy students. The weather was bad and the students had to stay indoors. As they couldn't play outdoors, they were unhappy, and some even got into fights from time to time.

　　Some of the teachers, at the college asked Dr. Naismith to invent a game so that the students might have something to play with. It was not easy to invent such a game because it had to be played indoors , and the court (球场) was not very large.

　　Dr. Naismith thought for a few days and invented a kind of ball game. It was a fast, wonderful game with much moving and passing of the ball. It was played between two teams. To make a score , the ball had to be thrown into the basket ten feet(英尺) above the floor on the wall . At each end of the court there was such a basket. At first, Dr. Naismith wanted to throw the ball into a box. As he could not find boxes of the right size, he had to use fruit baskets instead. That is how the game got its name.

1. How long is it since basketball was invented?

　　A. 1000 years                      　　　　　　　　　　B. More than 100 years

　　C. 1100 years                       　　　　　　　　　　D. Less than 100 years

2. The students felt unhappy because _______.

　　A. they had much homework to do

　　B. they often got into fights

　　C. they couldn't play outdoors 

　　D. they had little time to study

3. Who asked Dr. Naismith to invent a game?

　　A. Some students                    　　　　　　　　B. Some teachers

　　C. Some students' parents           　　　 D. Some of his friends

4. When a student ______ , he makes a score.

　　A. receives the ball.               　　　　　　

　　B. throws the ball to another student

　　C. runs quickly with the ball in his hand  

　　D. throws the ball into the basket

5. Which sentence is right?

　　A. Dr. Naismith had to use fruit to throw the ball.

　　B. It was easy to invent the game.

　　C. The students could go outdoors when the weather was bad.

　　D. The ball had to be thrown into the basket five feet above the floor.